The Flip Side of the Same Coin
by theperksofhavingnolife
Summary: Missing scene from Chapter 36 of The Raven King. Blue and Ronan's conversation they had in the kitchen while Adam and Gansey were talking down the hall. Very minor spoilers from The Raven King.
**Disclaimer** : I do not own anything from The Raven Cycle. I just like pretending that I know the characters personally. Please fave/review if you like it!

Blue followed Ronan into the kitchen, listening to Ronan still laughing softly at jostling her in the hallway. Ronan went to the fridge and took out a can of cola before offering one to Blue, who declined and walked toward the coffee maker. Blue wasn't usually much of a coffee drinker, but it had been a long couple of days and she was certain the next couple of days would be even longer. _Days? Weeks? A month? How much longer did he have?_ Her eye throbbed as she thought it.

The Orphan Girl was sitting on the counter, chewing on a wooden spoon. Ronan gave her a cola and turned back to Blue.

"So. You and Gansey."

Blue, who had been scooping coffee into the coffee maker, was shocked. Ronan Lynch wanted to have this conversation? Really?

"Um, yeah…do you have any issues with that?"

"No. I'm just kind of glad Gansey finally got his head out of his ass. He's been pretty obvious about you for a while now."

Blue spun around to face him. "What do you mean?"

"Please. He's my best friend and he's not very subtle. I can tell by the way he looks at you. Plus, he hides in the bathroom every night talking on his phone. I didn't think it was his mom." Ronan smirks at her, and she can't decide how she should feel about their utter failure of subtly. Adam knew. Ronan knew. The only two people that mattered already knew.

Another part of her thrills at the implication of Gansey looking at her in any way that makes his feelings obvious. She hoped her cheeks weren't blushing.

"Pshaw. Maybe it was his mom. You're the one who said he was a momma's boy."

Ronan laughed and Blue turned back around to turn on the coffee maker, but couldn't find the brew button. She looked at the back and looked again at the front and even looked on the pot itself.

"It's a dream thing," came Ronan's voice from behind her, "tap the lid three times."

Blue decided there was a slim chance he was just trying to make her look ridiculous, but there definitely wasn't a brew button and she had seen dream appliances in this kitchen before. She tapped the lid three times, and, sure enough, the coffee maker made a strange quacking noise and began to work.

Blue turned to get a mug from the cabinet when Ronan, apparently intent on having this conversation, continued.

"Any way just please refrain from making out in my presence. It would be like watching my parents."

Ronan hadn't meant anything by it. He was just being his usual self. But still, Blue froze momentarily. It wasn't much of a reaction, but it was enough that Ronan caught it.

"What? Is Gansey still mad I called him Dad all those times? Because let's be real he's a dad whether he wants to admit it or not."

Blue resumed her walk to the cabinet, pretending nothing was wrong.

"No it's not that."

"Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Maggot."

"Ronan."

"Is he a gross kisser or something?"

Blue couldn't help but laugh at this. She stretched to reach a light blue mug that had a three-legged cow on it and turned around to face Ronan, who was looking at her questioningly. She glanced a look out in the hallway, but she could hear Gansey and Adam talking softly in the living room. They wouldn't be able to hear Ronan and her.

"I doubt it. But…I don't know. I haven't kissed Gansey." Blue admitted in a quieter voice than she was using before.

Ronan's face was surprised.

"Why? I thought you guys had been sneaking around for months."

"It's none of your business." Blue snapped. She couldn't believe she was having this conversation with Ronan Lynch of all people, and she didn't like thinking about what she couldn't do that she wanted so badly to.

Ronan merely raised an eyebrow, unimpressed with her anger, and waited.

Blue sighed and looked down into her empty mug. The scent from the brewing coffee was starting to permeate the air. Still Ronan quietly waited.

Blue realized that Ronan was now the only one of the boys who didn't know about her curse, and she didn't suppose there was any point in trying to keep it from him. Especially if things were heading the way she dreaded they were.

Without looking up, Blue said, even more quietly than before, "I can't kiss Gansey."

Ronan made a sarcastic little huffing noise and said, "Why? Afraid he'll give you cooties?"

Blue finally snapped her head up and looked at him, and her eyes must have showed her anger because the smirk on his face slipped off.

Blue again listened to the hushed voices of Gansey and Adam before pushing herself away from the counter and walking back toward the coffee pot.

She turned around and faced Ronan. She sighed loudly. Her eye throbbed.

"Fine. I'll tell you. Everyone else has found out one way or another already so it's not like it's much of a secret anymore."

Ronan didn't say anything. He just kept looking at her, eyebrow eternally hitched in that sarcastically questioning way of his.

"Ever since I was born every psychic I've ever met has told me that if I kiss my true love, he'll die."

Blue didn't break eye contact. She was challenging him to laugh. Ronan, for what it's worth, was not planning on laughing. He had seen enough by this point to believe without questioning. He was also worried about what this meant for his best friend.

"Well," he finally said, "that's a fucking downer."

Blue turned back around to pour a cup of the coffee.

"Does Gansey know?" Ronan continued.

"Yeah. I told you everyone but you has found out at some point."

"Does that mean that…you and Gansey are…he's your _true love_?"

Ronan Lynch. She was having this conversation with Ronan Lynch.

Blue knew the answer, of course. She had admitted it to herself already. But admitting it out loud to Ronan Lynch was a different matter entirely.

"Ye…I mean…it…it doesn't matter. I wouldn't kiss anyone, just to be safe."

Ronan was quiet for a moment. "Does that mean you and Adam never kissed?"

Blue was momentarily thrown off as she tried to imagine why Ronan would ask that question.

"No." Blue stirred her coffee before finally turning to look at Ronan. He had a look on his face that said he was thinking hard.

Then, in a more characteristically Ronan Lynch tone, he said, "Well. You know there are a lot of things you guys could do that doesn't necessarily _have_ to involve kissing…."

"OH MY GOD. No. Shut up. This conversation is over."

Ronan sniggered quietly to himself and walked to the cupboard to retrieve a box of cookies.

The kitchen was quiet for a few moments, until a strange metallic noise came from the counter where the Orphan Girl sat. Blue had almost forgotten she was there.

"Hey! Don't eat that you little dork." Ronan took the now empty cola can from the Orphan Girl and gave her a cookie instead.

Ronan thought about how Blue had been honest with him about Gansey and her curse. And then he thought about how he also felt like he needed to tell someone what was on his mind or he was going to do something stupid.

The kitchen was quiet for a few more moments until Ronan said, "I kissed Adam."

It was almost humorous, Blue's completely visceral reaction. She nearly dropped the mug she was holding that Ronan was pretty sure he had dreamt up when he was very young.

"What?! When?"

"This afternoon. When he went to look for the aluminum foil in Matthew's room."

"Oh." Blue was still staring at him in shock.

" _Oh_." He mocked.

"I didn't…I didn't know that you were…"

"Yeah well. Nobody did."

"Why didn't you ever tell us?"

Ronan was silent.

"Oh come on. You didn't think we would care did you? That _Gansey_ would care? Come on. You're not that big of an idiot."

Ronan gave Blue a sharp look, but Blue stood her ground.

"We're not _those_ kinds of assholes."

This made Ronan smile slightly. Blue was restructuring every one of Ronan's interactions with Adam. She came to the conclusion that he might be the world's _worst_ flirter.

"So. What did Adam say?"

"Nothing. I mean…he kissed me back. I'm pretty sure at least. Then I left. I didn't want to make him feel like he had to say anything."

They were quiet for a moment. Orphan Girl stole another cookie from Ronan's box and darted back to her place on the counter.

"Well…when are you going to actually talk to him?" Blue finally said.

"I don't know. I don't even know if he, you know, even likes boys. And I know he does like girls."

Ronan gave Blue a pointed look and Blue felt her cheeks get hot. She couldn't believe Ronan was opening up to her in this uncharacteristic show of vulnerability, and she wanted to comfort him.

"Well that doesn't mean that he necessarily doesn't like you too."

"Oh? What about you? Gansey? You guys seem pretty exclusive in what you like."

Blue felt herself getting angry. "Well that doesn't mean anything at all about Adam. And you know what? You'll never know until you actually give him the chance to talk for himself."

Ronan deflated. Blue knew he wasn't actually being snappy with her, he was just trying to protect himself.

"I know," he finally admitted, "but I've put myself out there. Whatever the next move is is up to him."

Blue thought about Ronan and Adam. In a selfish way, it would make her feel better about showing her relationship with Gansey in front of Adam. In an unselfish way, she thought about how she would like to see her friends happy. And, in a weird way, she thought Adam and Ronan might actually work.

She smiled. Suddenly it was easier to ignore the throbbing above her eye and the impending sense that time was running out. It was moments like this that made it all worthwhile. The four of them, talking throughout the night, being honest with each other, opening up, being there for each other. It was what she loved more than anything in the world.

She took a big sip of her coffee and looked up at Ronan.

"Well, I don't think Adam will wait long before confronting you about it. And you know what? I think there's a very good chance it's going to work out just the way you want it to."

A rare, genuine smile appeared on Ronan's face.

"Maybe so, Maggot."

Blue smiled. The nickname had long ago stopped sounding like an insult and had begun to sound more like a begrudging endearment.

"Just please refrain from making out in my presence. It would be like watching my brothers."

Ronan Lynch just smiled.


End file.
